Food stamp participation has increased at 10 times the rate of job creation

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South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune and Indiana Republican Rep. Marlin Stutzman introduced legislation Thursday aimed at saving $30 billion in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program over a decade.

Thune and Stutzman said their “Streamlining the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Act” would eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse and close loopholes in a program that, under President Obama, has seen participation increase from 32 million to 47.8 million people and spending double to $80 billion in fiscal year 2012.

“Since President Obama came into office, SNAP participation has increased at 10 times the rate of job creation, the annual spending on SNAP has doubled, and one in seven Americans now participates in SNAP,” Thune said in a statement.

For context it would be helpful to know the rate at which EBT and/or WIC grew during previous administrations. This is not to say "Bush did it too." so much as it would be to identify a societal trend and perhaps the contributory causes of that trend.

When I was a teenager, if a girl got pregnant and had a baby in high school, what happened next depended largely on whether she was black or white. White teens tended to give up the children for adoption, or lived at home while they completed school, or even sometimes got married and started something resembling a married life (albeit often one in the home of parents).

I think it's become more socially acceptable on the lower rungs of society to avail oneself of government assistance for single mothers. It's actually become more socially acceptable across the board come to think of it. People who never applied for food stamps when they were simply poor, seem much more willing to go that route if they are on disability or workers comp. I think that young people are signing up old people who wouldn't have ever thought to apply on their own, and still aren't thrilled with the idea of being both poor and on food stamps.

In any event, I don't think we can look at one number or one set of statistics and fully understand what we are looking at.

One huge reason for the growth is that, now, there is profit to be made. The food stamp program is being run by JP Morgan Chase (Rockefeller) and they are making a fortune on it. The more people on food stamps, the more JP Morgan "makes"--I put make in quotes because they are not really earning any money--they are skimming it off the taxpayers. This is why you see so many food stamp ads: we're paying for the government to advertise to put more people on food stamps to make JP Morgan Chase more profits. Isn't that special?

And instead of hiring Americans and offering paying jobs in customer service to the unemployed here, JP Morgan Chase is running the program out of Indian call centers. The perfect immoral middleman.

One huge reason for the growth is that, now, there is profit to be made. The food stamp program is being run by JP Morgan Chase (Rockefeller) and they are making a fortune on it. The more people on food stamps, the more JP Morgan "makes"--I put make in quotes because they are not really earning any money--they are skimming it off the taxpayers. This is why you see so many food stamp ads: we're paying for the government to advertise to put more people on food stamps to make JP Morgan Chase more profits. Isn't that special?

And instead of hiring Americans and offering paying jobs in customer service to the unemployed here, JP Morgan Chase is running the program out of Indian call centers. The perfect immoral middleman.

Clarify please. Are you saying that Chase is making the money off interchange by operating the EBT transactions and machines? I hadn't thought of that. I guess i just thought that the EBT cleared through the Department of Agriculture or something. I guess it makes sense to have a credit card company with the structure to do it, I'm just surprised that it isn't American Express since they clear for just about everyone when there are service problems or shifts.

Looking for profit in EBT let's not forget that WALMART is a huge beneficiary.

The Walton’s food stamp scam

John Thorpe, writing for Benzinga, explains how the Walton’s have built their fortunes by working both ends of the Food Stamp program.

First of all, he offers a shocking figure: Walmart receives between 25 and 40 percent of all Food Stamp spending. Up to 2 in 5 dollars spent by all Food Stamp recipients is spent at Walmart. Of the approximately $72 billion the federal government spent on Food Stamps last fiscal year, Walmart would have earned up to $28.8 billion in sales from the program alone. The company brought in $448 billion in sales last year, so this government program represents a good chunk of those sales.

So let’s recap: Walmart doesn’t pay a living wage, lets the government subsidize their operating expenses by giving employees food stamps, which the employees then spend at Walmart. A very nice scam indeed!

This is what the socialist in chief wants. He is making people think that welfare is a career, is a job, is a lifestyle. If you think about it, a person who is on full welfare get benifits equivilent to someone making $45,000.00 a year. Heck .. Why not stay on it?

The lazy will breed more lazy, and the stupid will breed more stupid. Those who are lazy and are on welfare for a careeer do just that.

For context it would be helpful to know the rate at which EBT and/or WIC grew during previous administrations. This is not to say "Bush did it too." so much as it would be to identify a societal trend and perhaps the contributory causes of that trend.

Originally Posted by Novaheart

When I was a teenager, if a girl got pregnant and had a baby in high school, what happened next depended largely on whether she was black or white. White teens tended to give up the children for adoption, or lived at home while they completed school, or even sometimes got married and started something resembling a married life (albeit often one in the home of parents).

I think it's become more socially acceptable on the lower rungs of society to avail oneself of government assistance for single mothers. It's actually become more socially acceptable across the board come to think of it. People who never applied for food stamps when they were simply poor, seem much more willing to go that route if they are on disability or workers comp. I think that young people are signing up old people who wouldn't have ever thought to apply on their own, and still aren't thrilled with the idea of being both poor and on food stamps.

In any event, I don't think we can look at one number or one set of statistics and fully understand what we are looking at.

It's a lot more than just "social acceptability." We have the government out there actively encouraging people to get on any and all government assistance that can be found. We have people in Mexico telling soon-to-be illegal immigrants how to get on food stamps, WIC, and other such as soon as their coyote drops them off in the Arizona desert.

Once upon a time, there was a stigma attached to government assistance, particularly food stamps. Some touchy-feely types just declared that it's "unfair" to make people feel stigmatized by pulling out food stamp coupons at the grocery store. So, we came up with EBT cards, based upon the theory that somehow other people wouldn't know what those looked like and therefore people wouldn't be stigmatized by that.

What we need is the exact opposite. At every checkout counter in America, there should be red lights and bells that go off every time someone swipes a food stamp card. Everyone in the whole store should know that the person in front of them at the checkout line is spending their money on cokes and Little Debbies.

Originally Posted by Elspeth

One huge reason for the growth is that, now, there is profit to be made. The food stamp program is being run by JP Morgan Chase (Rockefeller) and they are making a fortune on it. The more people on food stamps, the more JP Morgan "makes"--I put make in quotes because they are not really earning any money--they are skimming it off the taxpayers. This is why you see so many food stamp ads: we're paying for the government to advertise to put more people on food stamps to make JP Morgan Chase more profits. Isn't that special?

And instead of hiring Americans and offering paying jobs in customer service to the unemployed here, JP Morgan Chase is running the program out of Indian call centers. The perfect immoral middleman.

That's a bit tinfoily. JP Morgan-Chase has the contract to administer the EBT program and they get a small fraction of a penny off of each transaction. Compared to the costs to administer the program before, it's a very real savings. JP Morgan-Chase isn't out there pushing people onto government assistance. The Obama administration is who is doing that.

Now, one thing that all of the banks do make a significant amount of money on is ATM fees from people who swipe their EBT card at the ATM in 7-11s, strip joints, and casinos to get cash out to buy beer and cigarettes and lottery tickets. That most definitely should be disallowed tomorrow. At no time should any government assistance be in the form of cash. It should always be in the form of either vouchers (for rent, for example), very limited food purchases (staple items only), and other valid purchases: toilet paper, light bulbs, etc. Every single person on government assistance should be tested monthly for any drug use, and that includes tobacco and alcohol. If you're going to live on the government's nickel, you're not going to sit on the stoop all day sucking 40s and Newports.

How government assistance should work is this:

You can buy basic food items to feed yourself:

Milk

Bread

Flour

A reasonably-limited amount of sugar

A reasonably-limited amount of salt

Pepper

Pasta (unprepared)

Rice

A limited amount of the least expensive kind of red meat

A limited amount of the least expensive kind of chicken

A limited amount of the least expensive kind of pork

A limited amount of the least expensive kind of fish

Juice (real juice, not fruit punch)

Vegetables

Fruit

Eggs

A limited amount of bacon and/or sausage

A limited amount of spices

Some prepared sauces, such as spaghetti sauce

A limited amount of some heat-and-eat meals that are genuinely nutritious

Cereal/grains

You can buy basic household items for yourself:

Toilet paper

Cleaning supplies

Toothbrush

Toothpaste

Soap

Deodorant

Basic shampoo

A few first aid items, such as band-aids and 4X4 gauze

Paper towels

Light bulbs

Laundry detergent

Garbage bags and the like

Dishwashing soap

A bus pass

If you're in public housing, you'll be issued a housing unit of appropriate size. You'll be issued the following:

A mop

A broom

A dustpan

A garbage can

A refrigerator

A range

A dish rack

A radio will be built into the wall

You get a landline with basic local calling only, with voicemail, one extension in the unit

If you don't have them, you will be issued the following:

A sofa

Two chairs for the living area

A kitchen table with the appropriate number of chairs for how many live there

One chair per bedroom

An appropriate number of beds with linens to fit

Basic kitchen utensils

An appropriate number of dishes, cups, glasses, etc.

An appropriate amount of basic silverware

You will not have the following:

A car

A cell phone*

Drugs of any sort, to include alcohol and tobacco

A stereo or radio other than the one built into the unit

A television

Internet

All housing projects will have a community center where people can access the internet solely for job searches and to access e-mail for that purpose

Every able-bodied person not in school will report at least once per week to engage in some sort of community service work, be that painting the swingset at the playground or mowing the grass in the projects or picking up trash on the highway. EVERYONE will do some sort of work for the community who has so generously provided their lifestyle.

If you live in Section 8 housing, and you have a job, you may have the following at your own expense:

A car, provided that:

The car note is no more than $200/month

You provide proof of insurance on that car once per month

You do not have fancy rims

You do not have some ludicrous stereo

You do not have some funky paint job

You maintain that car as needed, i.e. it can't just sit on blocks in the front yard

A television

Basic cable

Basic cell phone service (no texting or data plan)

Basic internet (not high-speed)

*Exemption: people on SSDI will get a basic cell phone with a limited number of local talk minutes only; no texting, no internet, no data plan, no long-distance.

We certainly have the technology to make this the case, and it damn well should be. Being poor sucks. I've been poor before (though never on government assistance). It's not supposed to be easy or pleasant. And if we limited the government assistance available to those who aren't truly disabled in some way and can't take care of themselves (whom I consider a completely different case all together) to the most spartan of subsistence living, in which they can't continue to make the shitty choices that got them onto the government dole in the first place, I guarandamntee that at least 50% would be off the dole tomorrow, if not more.

I'm completely fine with helping out people who need help, even if they got there through their own bad choices (which is most). I'm completely fine with taking care of the least among us who can't care for themselves, either in whole or in part; I think that we have that duty as a society. What I'm absolutely sick of doing is paying to support those who are happy with scraping by on the government's nickel so long as they know that they can vote themselves a little bit more largess every couple of years, raise a media stink every once in a while to show "their plight," and all the while they insist that we foot the bill for those same people continuing the very behavior that got them into the poor house and keeps them there. First and foremost, that's just rude, but beyond that, those people are sucking up all the resources that could be used to help out those who genuinely need it, e.g. the disabled.